ARTS, BRIEFLY; Booker Prize Names Announced

Compiled by JULIE BLOOM

Published: July 30, 2008

Joseph O'Neill, Salman Rushdie and Mohammed Hanif are among the writers chosen for the longlist of this year's Man Booker Prize for fiction, it was announced on Tuesday. The judges selected 13 books, representing writers from Australia, India, Pakistan and Britain, from 112 entries. Michael Portillo, the chairman of the judges, said in a statement: ''The list covers an extraordinary variety of writing. Still, two qualities emerge this year: large-scale narrative and the striking use of humor.'' On the list are ''The White Tiger,'' by Aravind Adiga (Atlantic); ''Girl in a Blue Dress,'' by Gaynor Arnold (Tindal Street Press); ''The Secret Scripture,'' by Sebastian Barry (Faber & Faber); ''From A to X,'' by John Berger (Verso); ''The Lost Dog,'' by Michelle de Kretser (Chatto & Windus); ''Sea of Poppies,'' by Amitav Ghosh (John Murray); ''The Clothes on Their Backs,'' by Linda Grant (Virago); ''A Case of Exploding Mangoes,'' by Mr. Hanif (Jonathan Cape); ''The Northern Clemency,'' by Philip Hensher (Fourth Estate); ''Netherland,'' by Mr. O'Neill (Fourth Estate); ''The Enchantress of Florence,'' by Mr. Rushdie (Jonathan Cape); ''Child 44,'' by Tom Rob Smith (Simon & Schuster); and ''A Fraction of the Whole,'' by Steve Toltz (Hamish Hamilton). Five of the books are first novels, and two are by former winners. The 2008 shortlist will be announced on Sept. 9 and the winner announced on Oct. 14 at an awards ceremony in London. Last year Anne Enright won the prize, first awarded in 1969, for her novel ''The Gathering.''